Kavita Gadkari joins Grey as vice-president, planning

Gadkari moves in from Stellar Search, Dubai; she has spent more than a decade with DraftFCB Ulka as a planner before moving to UAE.

Continuing to strengthen its team, Grey has roped in Kavita Gadkari as vice-president, planning at its Mumbai office. She joins Grey from Stellar Search, Dubai, where she led a successful entrepreneurial start-up.

Gadkari began her career in 1993, spending well over a decade with DraftFCB Ulka. She also had a short stint in between at Interface Communications Chennai, before moving to UAE in 2006.

Gadkari has also headed strategy and insights at Inca Advertising, Sharjah.

Bindu Sethi, chief strategy officer, Grey Asia Pacific, says, "I am delighted to have Kavita join the planning team. With her in Mumbai and Divyapratap Mehta in Delhi, I am looking forward to seeing great strategic insights leading to creation of more famously effective advertising for our clients."

"Kavita's experience and accomplishments in business development as well as her people skills will add significant value to our clients' businesses," Sethi adds.

Citing personal reasons as her main motive to return to India, Gadkari tells afaqs! that account planning is something she enjoys most and with Indian advertising having a much more developed planning system than that in the UAE, the decision was much easier.

According to her, Grey is serious about being on a growth path, winning some significant accounts in the recent past. She joins the agency to add further method and rigour to the planning process, she says.

"I am pleased to join Grey at this exciting stage in its growth. I am particularly looking forward to working with Bindu on a wide range of clients across industries. I am also excited to be back in advertising. As the saying goes - once an advertising woman, always an advertising woman! The buzz beckoned me back to this big and not-so-bad world of advertising. I am driven by the passion of it all," says Gadkari.

Among the various accounts she has handled through her career, some prominent ones are Tata Motors, Amul, ITC, Wipro Consumer Products and Tata Internet Services. She was also responsible for winning DraftFCB Ulka key accounts such as Unit Trust of India, Tata Corporate and Sundaram Home Finance.